Discussion

erythritol and leavening

I recently began using erythritol (ZSweet) because my husband was diagnosed pre-diabetic. I have had terrible luck with cakes that don't rise. They look more like brownies and they tend to be very dense like a heavy poundcake. I checked and sure enough, my baking powder and baking soda were quite old. I've replaced them, but hate to waste another cake if folks know for sure it's the ZSweet. So, can this be blamed on my old leaveners or the ZSweet.

I love it to sweeten my tea and coffee. I've even made him some homemade hot chocolate with 2/3 erythritol and 1/3 sugar with good results. I pulverize it so it is very powdery and should dissolve more readily. Any Ideas?

erythritol is a sugar alcohol, and its physical and chemical properties are very different from sugar. it doesn't behave the same way in baked goods, and won't produce the same results as sugar no matter how fresh your leaveners are! it doesn't share sugar's hygroscopic nature, so it won't retain moisture, and it also doesn't encourage a Maillard reaction for browning. you'll have better luck if you only replace a portion of the sugar - if you use all erythritol, your baked goods will be much denser and drier than those made with sugar.

Thanks very much. I see many posts (i'm new to this site and think I should have posted my question in a different place?) where people say they bake with it with great results and no one has mentioned the rising issue. I'll just have to keep experimenting.